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Game 161, Athletics at Mariners

It’s not rational or anything, but my view of the M’s in 2011 and 2012 is highly impacted by how long it’s been since Justin Smoak has homered. In May, I thought this team wasn’t ready for prime time, but that the young core was intriguing. In August, I thought this team was bereft of hope; that if peak Ichiro and Felix weren’t enough to get the M’s over the top, then two or three Dustin Ackley’s wouldn’t matter either. Some of this is reactionary and emotional, sure, but this was a team that started a struggling Adam Kennedy at 1st and occasionally hit him 3rd in the line-up.

Thanks to Smoak’s homer last night, I’m feeling a bit better now. This team needed a productive Smoak to be relevant (some might say “watchable”) in 2011, and they’ll probably need a productive Smoak to be relevant in 2012. For so much of this year, he’s looked like a Southern Mike Saunders. It’s not just that his struggles hurt the team’s chance to win – they hurt our ability to hope.

Hope got another boost today as Taijuan Walker was named the Midwest League’s top prospect today by Baseball America. I’ve been perhaps too excited by Walker since he debuted for Clinton this year, so it’s great to see BA honor him like this. It’s not just me! He shouldn’t be able to do what he’s doing! He could get better!

I suppose we should discuss tonight’s game. Trevor Cahill had a sub-3.00 ERA last year that was driven partially by a very low BABIP. This year, despite the exact same FIP (4.19), his ERA’s jumped by over a full point. He’s still a guy who can get ground balls and get enough swinging strikes, but his command hasn’t been there this season, and that’s contributed to his slide. He’s had a particular struggles against lefties this year, and while that’s probably not indicative of his true talent, it’s enough that managers are trying to get more lefties in the line-up against him.

Blake Beavan continues his run as one of the most whiff-phobic pitchers in the league. His walk rate’s similar to Brandon McCarthy’s, but his K rate’s more similar to a pitcher from the 1980s. I would love to see Beavan explore developing a sinker/cutter like McCarthy did – here’s an object lesson in how to go from AAAA guy to an extremely valuable #3 starter. Of course, Beavan hasn’t struggled like McCarthy has, and pitchers who’ve had success might not see the need to overhaul their approach. But then again, it was only a year ago that Beavan was getting battered by PCL hitters, and he’s already made some adjustment. I’d think Beavan more than many guys understands just how fine the line is between being dead meat in AAA to semi-respectability in MLB, so he might want to start exploring ways to better himself before the next wave of pitching talent reaches the majors.

The line-up:
Ackley gets a night at DH, which allows him a bit of a rest and allows Seager to demonstrate his ability to play all over the IF. Good move.

That would explain Bedard’s club-friendly contracts the last couple of years.

vj on
September 28th, 2011 1:26 am

Wow, two comments, and neither of them comments on the game. This must be the shortest game-thread ever.

destinationtubes on
September 28th, 2011 5:48 am

Kinda’ miss Bedard’s 32 strikeouts in 34 innings…

JoshJones on
September 28th, 2011 12:12 pm

I commented, but it wasnt approved. 🙂

Mike Snow on
September 28th, 2011 12:49 pm

Funny, I don’t see your comment in the moderation queue. There was one from somebody else that went straight to spam – if that was yours, then I would suggest you review the comment guidelines and keep things a little more readable and on-topic. Game threads are certainly allowed some latitude, but it’s not unlimited.

Paul B on
September 28th, 2011 1:05 pm

Back in the days of VHS, I recorded the last Mariner Game of the season. I don’t remember what season, and I don’t remember where they were playing, but it was sunny so it must not have been in the Kingdome.

I don’t know why I recorded it. It was, like this series with the A’s, completely meaningless and not very interesting even from a player development perspective.

I guess I had this idea that on some cold January evening I’d pop the tape in the machine and watch a baseball game.

I don’t think I ever watched it, and I probably threw the tape out when we switched to DVD.

Bremerton guy on
September 28th, 2011 3:54 pm

I’ve been a baseball fanatic for over 50 years. But for the past several years — including this one — I’ve had nothing but a passing interest in the M’s during September and October. Like, not even turning on the game on Fox/Root for a couple of innings to pass the time. Maybe I’ll read the writeup on mlb.com the next morning, along with the box. If this is how I feel, one can only imagine how little interest the general public has in the team’s fortunes.